It's rock 'n' roll's most legit adage: The best bands are the ones that make music because they have to, because they're driven to.

Brooding rock six-piece Snake Rattle Rattle Snake came together in early 2009 out of a shared need to play together. Their intimate relationships are obvious when you see them on stage. So it's hardly surprising to learn of the intimacies within this group of six Denver musicians. Friends. Lovers. Siblings. And bandmates.

"There were no auditions with Snake," drummer Kit Peltzel said last week, pint in hand on a downtown Denver patio. "There were no ads placed for 'Bass player wanted.' It formed out of friendships."

"Everybody fit in this group as a necessity," guitarist Doug Spencer continued.

When Snake Rattle Rattle Snake plays two big shows at next weekend's 10th annual Denver Post Underground Music Showcase — The UMS, which runs Thursday-July 25 on South Broadway — the Denver act will take the stage as the No. 1 underground band in Colorado, as voted on by a panel of local-music enthusiasts.

It's been a big year for Snake, a darkly melodic post-punk band that makes you want to dance. In the past six months, Snake received the Westword cover treatment and an assist from local band manager Bart Dahl, who helped hook them with a date at the Mile High Music Festival in August. They were scheduled to open for the Dead Weather last night at the Ogden, and they also have a date with Film on The Rocks later this summer.

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This recognition via the Denver Post Underground Music Poll cements 2010 as the summer of the Snake.

"My attitude on this summer is, let's live in this moment," said frontwoman Hayley Helmericks, "because this is a pretty amazing summer we have ahead of us, and I don't wanna (expletive) with it."

Catching the next wave

Helmericks' philosophy seems to be working. Snake is happening — right now. The band's unusual approach to rock recalls for fans of alternative rock a sexier Joy Division, a less spastic Gossip and a four-on-the-floor Hole. Its sound is very current — next- wave, even. There aren't enough rock bands that inspire dance parties, but like a modernized (if less anthemic) Jefferson Airplane, Snake Rattle Rattle Snake makes you move.

This is a group of musicians that's not afraid to talk about recording, labels, touring and anything else that gets its music heard outside of Colorado — an ambitious slate and a fresh take on the group's natural ties to the dearly departed band that was known as Monofog.

Snake Rattle Rattle Snake (Lisa Gedgaudas)

"Touring is the next big step all Denver bands are forced to take, but actually very few do," bassist James Yardley said. "It's a different kind of commitment level. But we're all committed."

Snake's story starts in Fort Collins in the '90s, when Helmericks first met Spencer. They started making music together after high school, and that became Monofog, an angular rock group that seduced rock clubs with its post-punk jams and Helmericks' sticky alto and undeniable stage presence for nearly 10 years.

After a decade and many incarnations, Monofog eventually split. But a move from northern Colorado to Denver for Helmericks and Spencer meant closer proximity to Helmericks' brother, Wilson, some musicians they admired, including drummer Andrew Warner, and a scene they loved. The siblings Helmericks, Spencer and Warner started practicing and writing songs together when they eventually got a knock on the door at their practice space.

"I remember hearing you guys rehearse through the wall," Peltzel said to his bandmates, "and I wanted to rock. I knew it wasn't Monofog this time, but I heard Hayley's voice, and it sounded great."

The band already had a drummer in Warner. But that didn't mean they couldn't have two — Warner on a traditional kit and Peltzel on an electronic kit.

"Being able to have that extra set of hands when you can't get to something is huge," said Warner, who first saw Peltzel rock the two-drummer approach years ago with the Denver Gentlemen. "It was cool when Kit came in. It was like, 'Wow he's doing all this stuff that I could never do.' "

And then there were six

Yardley joined the fold after another player didn't work out, and then there were six. The band's name was initially a joke of Spencer's — a proposed name he pitched to a friend's band. (He later reneged his offer and kept it for his own project.) Now each member is dedicated to making the band happen — with unspoken dreams that involve particular labels and specific producers.

They seem to have the kind of shared vision that could make it happen, too.

"I'd like for these guys to be my future," Spencer said of the group.

That goes without saying when you're married to the singer and are brother-in-law to the other guitarist. Yes, longtime sweethearts Hayley Helmericks and Spencer are now married. Wilson Helmericks and Yardley will soon be roommates. Close friendships abound — including Peltzel and Warner, who are brothers in percussion. Of course there are the Helmericks siblings, of whom Hayley is two years Wilson's senior.

Even though these musicians have played in countless Denver/Fort Collins groups, only a few are still active — primarily Moonspeed (for Helmericks, Spencer and Peltzel) and Bad Luck City (for Warner).

"Denver is super-incestuous with people playing in tons of bands," Warner noted.

The members have few problems speaking their minds — perhaps because of their pre-existing friendships, love affairs and familial ties. The siblings, for example, shared heated words at band rehearsal the night before our interview. But 24 hours later over beers and whiskey, all was back to normal.

"We're not afraid to call each other out at times, for better or for worse," Wilson Helmericks said of his relationship with his sister. "It's always for the benefit of the music. And we have the opportunity to be honest because we're related."

Added his sister, "And I'm sure that honesty makes other people uncomfortable at times."

Learn more about Snake Rattle Rattle Snake

Personnel: Hayley Helmericks, Wilson Helmericks, Kit Peltzel, Doug Spencer, Andrew Warner, James Yardley
Website: myspace.com/snakerattlerattlesnake Colorado connection: We are all Colorado kids (for the most part) who now live in Denver and have played in bands here for years.
Genre: Dark wave rock n' roll
Members in other bands: Bad Luck City, Sweet Tooth Meat Tooth, Moonspeed
Favorite local acts: Git Some, Bad Weather California, Nathaniel Rateliff, Cannons, Gauntlet Hair, 200 Million Years, Grey Gardens, Joe Sampson, A. Tom Collins
Next show: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, CarToys Stage @ the Goodwill Parking Lot, The UMS
We got into music because: We all grew up with music in our homes and then turned into punk kids who wanted to get loud.
We're still in it because: It's ever-changing and still fun! And there is no better feeling than providing people with an excuse to congregate and have a good time... and dance!

See, and learn, more about our Top 10

To read first-person caspules by all of our top 10 bands like the one above, and to see videos, click here

More photos! More video!

We've edited down more than 1,000 UMS photos by our team of shooters at the 2009 Denver Post Underground Music Showcase to bring you the very best. To see what we came up with, click here.

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